COVID-19 infection and vaccines: potential triggers of Herpesviridae reactivation*

Since the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak, numerous articles have highlighted a possible link between COVID-19 vaccination or infection and Herpesviridae co-infection or reac-tivation. The authors conducted an exhaustive literature review on this topic, the results of which are presented individually for each member of the Herpesviridae family: Herpes Sim-plex Virus (HSV) types-1 (HSV-1) and 2 (HSV-2); Varicella-Zoster Virus (VZV); Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV); Cytomegalovirus (CMV); HHV-6; HHV-7; and HHV-8. These human herpesviruses can serve as prognostic markers for the COVID-19 infection and may even underlie some of the clini-cal manifestations initially attributed to SARS-CoV-2. In addition to SARS-CoV-2 infection, all corresponding vaccines approved to date in Europe appear capable of inducing herpesvirus reactivation. It is important to consider all viruses of the Herpesviridae family when managing patients infected with or recently vaccinated against COVID-19.(c) 2023 Sociedade Brasileira de Dermatologia. Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L.U. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).